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Autism
The Impact of Genetics
Factors that may trigger Autism
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Autism is a mysterious mental disease that effects 400,000 children in the U.S. alone. It develops insidiously in toddlers after deceptively normal infancies, free of the developmental abnormalities that are early and obvious hallmarks of severe mental retardation or cerebral palsy. Around the age of 18 months or two years, developmental milestones are not attained. Normal communication between parents and children lapses. Autistic children often fail to make eye contact and their speech is rudimentary. They may be prone to explosive tantrums or engage in repetitive mechanical behavior, like rocking or shutting off all the lights in a room again and again. While autism varies in severity, its key features are improper sensory integration, lack of subtlety of emotional expression ("flatness" can quickly give way to agitation) and limited communication ability. Autistic children seldom are able to lead independent lives without heavy remedial education, dedicated parental care and sometimes institutionalization and drugs.

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No effective drug therapy for autism exists. Medications "take the edge off" symptoms, and parents fervently adhere to various programs of "behavior modification," "sensory integration," and the like, with some encouraging results. And so, it was with great skepticism that physicians and developmental experts responded to the claims of autism pioneer Dr. Bernard Rimland. In the 1970s, he began excitedly publicizing research results that showed autism could be substantially ameliorated with diet changes and nutrients.

A mainstay of his approach was the elimination of sugar and artificial ingredients, coupled with supplementary nutrients, especially B6 and magnesium. To this he later added dimethylglycine (DMG) and treatment for candida (yeast) infection. Many parents attest to the success of his methods, but only recently have new significant strides been made in alternative strategies for autism. Now, results are improved and more consistent. More tests are available to detect abnormal metabolic pathways that can be fine-tuned in autistic kids. Consensus is developing among the growing ranks of physicians who have experience in testing these children. Standardized protocols are being disseminated. The whole approach to autism has finally become less hit-or-miss.

Several events have enabled this quantum leap in our understanding of autism. Researchers have long believed that autism was neurologically "hard-wired" into the brain circuitry of afflicted children. Most guessed that a complex tangle of mixed up switches in the brain were part of the genetic inheritance of autistic kids. But a new model is helping us understand how certain susceptible children may develop autism, why Dr. Rimland's therapies seem to help some of them, and how we can extend hope and help to still others.

The model arises from medicine's new understanding of the relationship between the nervous system and the immune system. Traditionally, theoreticians have looked at these two systems as separate and distinct. But current thinking links them - maybe as one continuous network that senses and responds to outside stimuli. For instance, events we perceive with our sensory nervous system - like stress or love - have an immediate negative or positive impact on our immune response. Conversely, events within our immune system like allergic reactions or the fever that occurs with infection have a direct impact on our ability to concentrate, our level of fatigue, or our moods. Autistic children are thought to suffer from "sensory integration" problems. New findings suggest that their immune systems, too, may be suffering from overload.

Studies now reveal that autistic children, while not all alike, suffer from a wide array of immune system and metabolic abnormalities. The vast majority possess blood profiles that show a high state of immune system activation and dysregulation. Many show numerous food allergies, especially to wheat gluten and milk. This accounts for the observation frequently made by parents of autistics that their symptoms seem to "clear" with various elimination diets. Alternately, food allergies can be effectively neutralized with techniques like Enzyme Potentiated Desensitization, which obviates the need for dietary stringency.

Some autistic children develop their symptoms after a series of respiratory infections prompt the use of antibiotics (ear-tubes often are part of this scenario.) Alternatively, some kids appear to deteriorate behaviorally in the wake of an immunization shot. Mothers sometimes swear that they watch helplessly as their kids succumb to a progressive brain-addling disease - as if caused by an unknown germ, toxin, or vitamin deficiency.

Disorders - Autism